Garter



July 1, 1952 E. R. VISCONTI 2,601,681

GARTER Filed A'pl il l, 1947 36 III-Inn.

A z IVIIIPY'I/IIIIIIA n Patented July 1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EE :Esther JR. ,Visconti, South .Weymouth, Mass; App i a ion April 1, 1947, Se al N 738,614

i Claims.

. 1 This invention relates to improvements in arters, particularly garters for supporting womens hosiery and of the type comprising an elastic band over which the stocking may be rolled.

Garters of this type, called round garters, usually consist of a loop of elastic tape which may be either round or flat. One objection to the ordinary form of round garter is that the garter may .unroll under thestress of sitting or walking movements or the garter may twist around the leg resulting in a crooked seam which is considered to be a detraction to a well dressed appearance.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved form of round garter in which the ends of the tape are fastened to a button or ring suitably shaped to hold the garter in place and prevent .accidental unrollinglcr twisting.

It is further an object of my invention to make the button, to which the ends of the tape are fixed, in the form of a circular ring one face of which inclined outward from the horizontal center line up and the other face of which is similarly inclined from the aforesaid line down,

the ring being so attached to the tape that whichever face lies nearest the leg presents a projecting upper edge which presses against the leg and tends to counteract the stocking pull which would otherwise tend to unroll the garter. The projecting edge so disposed also ensures that the central plane of the ring lies approximately parallel to the leg if the lower part of the ring is carried slightly away from the leg by the strain of the stocking.

Further objects and advantages of my improvements will be more readily apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings; in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the garter;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the plane 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a modified form of the button;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the plane 5-5 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the plane 6-6 in Fig. 4; and

Fig. '7 is a vertical section taken'through the ring of Fig. l and illustrating the manner in which the stocking is rolled around the ring.

The garter comprises a loop of elastic tape it; the tape [0 is preferably a narrow flat tape al- 2 though round tape might also be used. The ends'ofthe tape ID are fastened at 12 and 14 to a rigid means presenting an area wider than said tape and shaped as a ring, button or disc ill. The button or ring I S 7 preferably no wider than one inch in diameter, although it will be understood that larger rings might be used without departing from the spirit of my invention. i

The ring or button I6 is preferably made of plastic or'other durable material and has lateral extensions l8 and Zilfcrmed with slots 22 and 24 to attach the ends of the tape Ill. The ring -15 of Figure 1 has a circular opening 26, although the form shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, in which the center of the ring is solid, may also be used.

It is preferred to shape the opposite faces of the ring in a special manner. As shown inFigures l, 2 and 3 the lower part of the front face of thering (the right hand face in Fig. 2) is fiat while the upper part is inclined so that the edge of the ring of the front face iscurved out ward to form a projecting upper edge 28. The rear face of the ring (the left hand face in Fig. 2) is reversely shaped in a similar manner, the upper part being flat and the lower part being inclined outward to form a projecting lower edge St. The garter is placed over the upper edge of the stocking 4B and rolled over two or three times as illustrated in Fig. '7. It is only necessary to turn the garter with the button or ring over and over two or three times in order to secure the stocking, although the length of the stocking top may require further rolling to bring the garter to the desired position on the leg. As the garter is turned over and over in rolling it into the stocking either face may lie next to the leg. It is apparent, however, that with the tape attached as illustrated, reversal of the position of the faces due to rolling will bring edge 30 up into the position of edge 28 and vice versa, so that whichever face happens to lie next to the leg has a projecting upper edge which tends to tilt the upper part of the ring away from the leg. At the same time, the downward pull on the stocking tends to carry the lower part of the ring away from the leg so that under the combined forces the ring will lie substantially parallel to the leg, as illustrated in Fig. 7. This pull also causes the upper edge of the ring to press sharply against the leg, and the concentrated pressure at this point helps to prevent unrolling and lateral twisting of the stocking.

It is preferred to use a ring with a central opening, as in Figure 1, but a button with a closed center, as in Figures 4, 5 and 6, might also be used. In these figures, the button 34 has a solid center 36, and the margin of each face is shaped in the same manner as the faces of ring N5, the front margin being curved outward from the horizontal center line up to form a projecting upper edge 3|, and the rear margin being curved outward from the center line down to form a projecting lower edge 32. These edges perform the same function as edges 28 and 3B of the ring [6.

I claim:

1. A garter adapted to be turned over and over, and thus wrapped into a stocking top, comprising: an elastic tape; a rigid means presenting an area wider than said tape and having laterally disposed fastening areas to which said tape is attached, and front and rear faces, one

of said faces being flat in the half to one side of an axis through said areas and the other face being flat in the half to the opposite side of said axis, each remaining half face diverging outwardly from said axis from the plane of its fiat half to thus form oppositely directed raised portions remote from said axis and on opposite sides of the rigid means.

2. A garter adapted to be turned over and over, and thus wrapped into a stocking top, comprising: an elastic tape; and a button having laterally disposed fastening areas to which said tape is attached, and front and rear faces, one of said faces having a raised portion remote from an axis through said areas, and the other of said faces having a raised portion remote from said axis in the opposite direction.

3. A garter adapted to be turned over and over, and thus wrapped into a stocking top, comprising: an elastic tape; and a ring having laterally disposed fastening areas to which said tape is attached, and front and rear faces, one of said faces having a peripheral portion remote from an axis through said areas raised above the general plane of the face, and the other of said faces having an oppositely disposed peripheral portion raised above the general plane thereof.

4. A garter adapted to be turned over and over, and thus wrapped into a stocking top, comprising: an elastic tape; and a ring having laterally disposed fastening areas to which said tape is attached, and front and rear faces, one of said faces being flat in the semi-annular area to one side of an axis through said areas and inclined outward from said axis on the other side thereof to form a raised portion, and the other of said faces being flat in the semi-annular area to the opposite side of said axis from the first flat area and inclined outward from said axis in the opposite direction to form a second raised portion diagonally opposite to the first raised portion.

5. A garter adapted to be turned over and over, and thus wrapped into a stocking top, comprising: an elastic tape; and a disk havin laterally disposed fastening areas to which said tape is attached and front and rear faces, each face having a marginal edge for that half of its area on one side of an axis through said fastening areas, said edges being on opposite sides of said axis and each increasing in height as it becomes more remote from the axis.

ESTHER R. VISCONTI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 886,780 Dwyer May 5, 1908 1,579,416 'Iillotson Apr. 6, 1926 1,815,267 Mackall July 21, 1931 1,912,465 Radlauer June 6, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 76,126 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1917 

